In the course of my practice, as a liscensed massage therapist specializing in deep-tissue massage, I have discovered and invented a gravity traction apparatus, whereby both the superficial and deep connective tissues on the dorsal side of a human body can be substantially subjected to deep, steady pressure, relieving stress and tension in the muscles and fascia of the dorsal side of the body, and in most cases release luxations and subluxations of the vertebral column.
It is well known to the massage professional trained in deep-tissue massage that deep, steady pressure applied to the human body can release both superficial and deep fascia. The word "fascia" means "band" and is applied to fibrous or membranous expansions of connective tissue which are wrapped around various structures of the human body, especially muscles, wherein they are termed epimysial sheaths.
The back release apparatus is designed and constructed to substantially manipulate said fascia on generally the dorsal side of a human body. When a human user engages his dorsal body on the back-engaging member and slowly slides down said member in a twisting, hanging fashion; deep, steady pressure is applied to the muscles and fascia of the back similar to the manual "myofascial-release" techniques applied by massage professionals trained in deep-tissue massage, whereby a release of tension and stress is effected in the muscles as well as a natural adjustment of the vertebral column.
According to my investigations, there is no prior art that duplicates the type of deep, slowly sliding, steady pressure to the dorsal side muscles of the human body along with the spinal adjustment, as said back release apparatus.
The apparatuses provided by the prior art and referred to below have numerous disadvantages and were not designed to effect both a deep release of muscle tissue and fascia, and release spinal subluxations/luxations as well.
Other prior art apparatuses provide generally traction with a person in the upright or inverted position, they provide a spinal adjustment, they massage superficially generally the muscles of the back or they exercise the hip and torso region of a human body, but none provide said deep, slowly sliding, steady pressure to the deep muscle tissues of the back as said back release apparatus along with a spinal adjustment.
Typical of aforementioned appartuses are the spinal adjustment devices, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,709,216, and the inverted traction apparatuses disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,566,693; 4,534,554; 4,534,555; 4,461,287; 4,502,682, and the upright traction apparatuses disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,685,511; 3,896,798; 4,372,552; 2,447,698; 3,835,844; 3,353,532; 3,889,664; and 786,672.
The patents to Robb (U.S. Pat. No. 2,487,730), Alvarez (U.S. Pat. No. 3,685,511), Carlmark (U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,552), Inada (U.S. Pat. No. 4,746,116), and Pfund (U.S. Pat. No. 786,672) shows pads or members for engaging the back, but none provide the novel double pad with bumps that press specifically and deeply into the muscles along the sides of the spinal column of a user as the back-release apparatus does. And none of these patents provide support for the arms and hands for the purpose of allowing the user to hang his feet while engaging pressure on the back-engaging double pads and for the purpose of sliding down the pads all the way to the user's neck. While Inada's invention does provide hand grips with a back support, it is not designed to allow the user to hang his feet nor does the back support engage deep pressure into the back. While foot-rests are provided for some of these patents, they are not built or positioned so that a user can lean his back deeply into the back-engaging pads by pressing his feet on the foot rest.
The patents to Masuda (U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,532), Hillyard (U.S. Pat. No. 3,709,216), Miller (U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,682), McGowen (U.S. Pat. No. 4,534,555), Barber (U.S. Pat. No. 4,232,662), and Stites (U.S. Pat. No. 3,568,669) are inventions designed to put the user generally in an inverted hanging position, while the back-release apparatus is designed generally to allow a user to hang in his normal upright position (head up, feet down), never in an inverted position (head down, feet up). The mentioned inventions above contain foot-rests and generally A-shaped frames, similar to the back-release apparatus, but they do not contain arm-rests with hand grips and back-engaging pads to allow a user to hang or slide his back down the back-engaging pads to adjust his spinal column and deeply massage his back.
The patents to Matuscheke (German patent DE 3420-858) and Simon (U.S. Pat. No. 3,896,798) contain arm rests and foot rests that allow a user to hang in an upright position and perform abominal/hip exercises, but they do not contain back-engaging pads so that the user can give himself a deep pressure massage to the muscles of his back as he is hanging or sliding down the back-engaging pads. These mentioned inventions above are designed for exercise purposes, not massage purposes as is the major purpose of the back-release apparatus.
Carlmark (U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,552) provides an apparatus with overhead handgrips and a back support so that a person can hang in an upright position, but the back support is not designed to press deeply into the back, nor can the user lean his back with pressure into the back-support, because no horizontal arm-rests with handgrips are provided in a position where the user can support his arms and hands at the level of his torso (not overhead), which is provided by the back-release apparatus and is essential for giving the user leverage to push his body backwards and engage deep pressure into the back-engaging pads.